An open-world, 3D Pokemon game would change gaming forever
I know this has been said before, and I know everyone is thinking this, but I just wanted to add my opinion.
Imagine a world like breath of the wild: you are thrown into a massive world brimming with life in different environments and you are given one main task but other than that, you are free to explore.
Now imagine that on eight corners of this massive world are Pokemon gyms — at the top of a massive mountain of ice, on the edge of a volcano, deep within the crevices of a rocky canyon, far within the jungles of tall slithering trees.
The player is controlled in a true third person perspective and is able to control the camera. Pokemon are scattered across the environment and music plays when a battle begins, but the transition is not interrupted by a cutscene or distracting prompts. When a Pokemon flees battle, it literally runs away.
There is no linear progression. Gyms can be completed in any order. This in itself would make the game extremely exciting and encourage exploration and inspire the sense of awe and discovery which are what this series has always tried to create but could never quite grasp.
HMs, instead of holding us back, become powerful tools which allow us to knock down trees to cross spanning rivers and climb to higher heights, and do not take up one of the four slots in each Pokémon’s moveset.
At the center of the world, watching us from above all along, is the indigo plateau, daring us to challenge the greatest trainers of the world. But more importantly: reaching the plateau is not the only object of the game.
This, finally, is a Pokemon game about exploration. When the series was created, technology was not strong enough to support this kind of experience. In this age, we finally have the tools to create one of the greatest gaming experiences of all time. Finally, journeying into the mouth of a deep dungeon and discovering a mythical Pokemon can become the experience it was always destined to be.
TL; DR: an open world Pokemon game with true third person controls, diverse environments, free exploration, and the ability to battle gyms in any order is the step forward that this series needs to break from the incredibly aged formula which was created for a gameboy and take full advantage of the switch.
Posted Nov 17, 2018, 3:43 PM UTC
They could definitely use elements of it. It'd probably be tough to curve wild pokemon, trainers, and gyms to appropriate levels if given the freedom to go mostly anywhere - hm permitting.
I'd be welcome to a less linear approach with multiple forks in the road - so to speak - with an emphasis on searching for pokemon instead of them popping up all over the place where we have our pickings.
As said, this next game is a pivotal point for the franchise with its strongest hardware capabilities to date and a console that has produced some incredible games that have set the bar high. It definitely won't be everything we envision, but it could be the start of something special.
I’d like to see a mechanism where trainers and wild Pokémon levels are determined by how many badges you have.
But for wild pokemon in particular, I don't want to only see pokemon in one given range and forgetting about some early games ones or prevos
The way I'd like to see that handled is that evolved pokemon would basically be a rare version of their pre-evolution spawns, if the pre-evolution of a high enough level.
So like, if a Mareep can spawn, and its level 15 or higher, maybe there's like a 20% chance it'll be a Flaaffy instead. And if its 30 or higher, and it rolls to be a Flaaffy, there's another 20% chance it'll be and Ampharos. For Pokemon with evo requirements beyond leveling, I'd say the spawn chance should either be reduced (for something like stone/trade evolutions) or not possible to spawn at all (for things like friendship based evolutions).
A scaling level up range would work, definitely. Like you said, below 30, you'd never see Ampharos, and rarely see Flaafy, but maybe it works both ways; past level 45-50, it's rare to see a Mareep, but Flaafy is more common and Ampharos is creeping up.
Totally different game, but they did this for World of Warcraft. It was jarring at first but it actually worked out really well and gives you much more freedom to explore and level up where you’d like. I think it would do well in Pokémon.
For the wild Pokemon, some of them can't be above certain levels.
Like you can't have a Metapod below level 7 or above level 9.
If you ask me, scaling for wild Pokemon and common trainers is unnecessary.
Personally, I would have it so that the areas around cities and on the main paths between them would be inhabited by weak Pokemon. However, the farther you stray from the beaten track, and the deeper into the wilderness you go, the tougher the wild Pokemon become. So basically travelling around civilisation should be easy (as it should be, logically speaking), but you can't truly go exploring until you get stronger or more skilled. The better you are the further you can go - and obviously, the rare Pokemon and useful items are all tucked away in less accessible areas, giving you something to work towards. Some towns may be more isolated and hostile than others too - Blackthorn City is an example that I think would be like that. Trainers should roughly match or slightly exceed the Pokemon around them and won't approach you if you have too many badges (but you can still approach them).
Gym leaders and rivals would probably scale with your badges. Maybe some story trainers too. But nothing else has to be. Open world doesn't have to mean free rein - OP compared the idea to BOTW already, and that game definitely has areas which are tougher than others and enemies that would destroy most weaker players.
Mind you, I'm not 100% on board the open world train. But I have firm ideas on how it could be done.
Well, there's answers to some of these.
Curve wild Pokemon? Level scaling. By the amount of gum badges you have. This would be beneficial cause lower level areas could have those same Pokemon but stronger and maybe a small chance for their evolved form if levels allow it so. You could still make some areas dangerous with much higher level Pokemon but make it easy to see them (if they keep let's go wild encounter mechinaic) and escape easier.
Emphasis on searching for them? Well again, let's go is the answer to it.
Hms? The ride system from sun and moon made hms obselete, and honesty, fuck hms, they we're tedious anyway.
All these are possible. Gamefreak has to be rolling in money's, they can stand to make the games open world at this point.
In regards to searching for pokemon, I was hoping for a little bit of the opposite of what let's go has. I definitely am a fan of seeing wild pokemon and the lack of random encounters is refreshing, but I want it to feel more natural.
LGPE has dozens conveniently popping up into a field, and I want it to feel like a more active search, like a mini game of sorts, chasing after them, some sort of unique scenario for the truly rare pokemon, etc. After the encounter, I would welcome a mix of a wild battle to weaken it and a GO-styled capturing system where aiming and trajectory is key (but with optional motion controls).
Otherwise, great points. Alola used pokeride well and incrementally exposing newer areas through rock smash, flash, strength, and eventually surf/dive/waterfall (or variations of those actual moves) would be nice.
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Update Build off that concept, yes
For sure. Obviously it isn’t going to be everything, but I think that they really have an opportunity to take a step forward
Just make it an action game.